Pride, Paramours and Ancient Runes
by Crookshanks.x
Summary: Rose has a crush, but things never tend to work out the way Rose wants them to. Maybe that's for the best, because sometimes life knows best.


**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter belongs entirely to J.K. Rowling and there is no copyright infringement intended.

**A/N: **It's been ages since I've posted anything here, but I've been on a bit of a writing spree lately! Thank you, Janna, for being a lovely beta. :)

**Pride, Paramours and Ancient Runes**

Rose held her head up with the palm of her hand, staring at a fixed spot somewhere behind Professor Binns. There was no empty space left on her parchment, but only because she was doodling mindlessly. She desperately hoped someone else had taken notes. Blinking rapidly, she tried to force herself to focus. This was important! It was the i_history_/i of magic, surely that should make her interested. Riots! Wars! Exciting conflicts! Her eyes slipped closed as Professor Binns' voice became a distant drone. This was one of those times when her dad would laugh and say 'some things never change!' with a grin that meant he didn't ever want them to change.

It wasn't until everyone was leaving their desks that she noticed Binns had stopped talking. She looked down at her parchment and snapped her book shut over it, holding it to her chest as she hurried out the door after the rest of her class. Struggling to keep her book bag in place over her shoulder, she caught up with Ally and Christine.

"Please tell me one of you got notes," Rose said, huffing with frustration as she tried to get her book back into her bag.

Ally stared at her clumsy attempt to bag her book with a raised eyebrow.

"Only for the first part," Christine said, grimacing. "From then on out I was practising Quidditch in my head."

"How exactly do you practise Quidditch in your head?" Ally asked as she reached out to hold Rose's bag. "For Merlin's sake, Rose, let me help you."

Christine stopped walking as she watched them struggle. "I'm just visualising attack strategies. And I guess I'm also visualising Vera falling off of her broom."

Ally was about to reply when Rose's book hit the floor with a loud crash and the parchment she had been doodling on slid out, coming to a rest at Christine's feet. Rose reached after it in vain as Christine picked it up.

"Merlin, not this again," Christine said, shaking her head. "Really, Rose?"

Grabbing the parchment from Christine's hands, Rose blushed and pushed her doodles back into her bag. Forcing herself to seem unaffected, she just grinned in response.

"What was it?" Ally asked, trying to sneak her hand into Rose's bag. She yelped when Rose smacked her away.

Christine rolled her eyes. "Rose is doodling hearts again."

"Oh," Ally said, smirking as realisation dawned on her. "With a certain name in them?"

"Shut up," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "We'll be late for Charms."

Ally laughed. "I knew you weren't over that yet."

"Well, he's cute, okay?" Rose said, shrugging. "He's just really cute."

"Obviously," Christine said. "He's just the most popular guy in our year."

"Thanks for reminding me," Rose said, picking up the pace as they headed down the stairs towards the Charms classroom. "Does that mean he won't like me?"

"Of course not," Christine said, following right behind. "That's not what I said. I'm only saying it's well established that he's cute."

And Ally and Christine wondered why she sometimes avoided telling them things. She avoided that a lot of the time, actually, but her crush had never been one of her secrets. It was a decision she regretted.

"You should just tell him instead of spending all your time doodling his name and yours on all the parchments you own," Ally said as they headed down the hallway towards their last class of the day. "I'm sure he'd be thrilled that you like him."

"I can't just itell/i him." Rose cringed. "It'd be so...embarrassing."

"Are you a Gryffindor or aren't you?" Christine challenged. "You're supposed to be brave, you know."

"Brave: yes." Rose held the door to the classroom open. "Stupid: no."

They piled in and found a seat together. She was well aware that their Charms class was with the Slytherins and she threw a quick glance over her shoulder. He was sitting with his friends as always, laughing at something one of them said, and she averted her eyes quickly, staring straight ahead instead.

"I'm sure he'd think you were brave," Ally whispered, leaning in towards Rose who was sitting in the middle.

Rose sighed and shook her head.

"Telling Andrew Finnigan that I like him would be a catastrophe," she said in that tone of finality that her friends knew meant the end of the discussion.

[-]

At lunch, Rose didn't sit down at the Gryffindor table. Instead, she elbowed herself room with the Ravenclaws. This didn't raise any eyebrows, though, as this had been happening for five years now. Rose's best friend, Albus, was a Ravenclaw and the two of them being separated by house had always been their biggest grief. Over the years, routines had formed to make sure they didn't lose touch even though they both had their own friends in separate houses. Albus, and sometimes his Ravenclaw friends, ate breakfast at the Gryffindor table. Rose, sometimes bringing Ally and Christine, ate lunch with the Ravenclaws. Dinner was spent with their respective houses, but there was plenty of time in their free moments to meet up outside their respective common rooms.

Rose grabbed a treacle tart from the plentiful spread and took a bite, looking around at the Ravenclaws who were almost like her own house mates by this point. All of them had been chatting excitedly about the Hogsmeade weekend two weeks from now, but now that she'd arrived they seemed to fall quiet. She suddenly remembered why. The Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was coming up, and matches always added a strange tension to the atmosphere between any of the houses. Personally, she had never cared much for Quidditch, but she did understand that house pride was on the line.

"I'm not here to spy on your Quidditch tactics," she announced, throwing her hands up.

"We know that," Erica said from the seat to her left. "You wouldn't understand our tactics anyway."

Rose laughed with the rest of them. She could hardly deny the truth of that, she had never been a Quidditch fiend. But even so, her announcement seemed to have lightened the mood a bit.

"Don't worry guys," Albus said, grinning at her from across the table. "I'll get Rose to cheer for Ravenclaw."

"In your dreams, Al." She rolled her eyes. "Just watch your back, or I'll tell Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny that you're conspiring against their house."

"I doubt that's news to them," Scorpius said, reaching past Al to find the pumpkin juice. "He's the only eagle in a house of lions after all."

Rose shrugged. "He might be the only Ravenclaw, but he's hardly the only one in a different house. Lily's a Hufflepuff, remember?"

"I don't think Hufflepuffs do conspiring behind people's backs," Scorpius said, smiling slightly behind his glass of pumpkin juice.

"Merlin, Scorpius," she moaned. "Must you be so persnickety?"

"Must you be so obtuse?" he countered.

Rose rolled her eyes and considered ignoring him as she carefully buttered her bagel. The pull to get in one last jab was too strong, though, and she looked up from her plate, careful to arrange her expression into an image of unaffected boredom.

"You really need new friends, Al," she drawled.

Just then, she looked over Al's shoulder and caught a glimpse of Andrew Finnigan laughing uproariously, his gorgeous, shoulder-length hair swaying tantalisingly. Her stomach did a strange little jig and she took a deep breath. Maybe Christine and Ally were right. It might be better to just tell him than walking around mooning over him in private.

"I'll say he does!" Scorpius said, eyeing her pointedly.

She was about to retort, but she never got that far.

"Give it up, you two," Al said in his usual serene tone of voice. "Save your pissing contest for some other time."

Both Scorpius and Rose grinned, their eyes meeting across the table. Sometimes appearances were deceiving when it came to the two of them. Yes, Scorpius could certainly be an annoying know-it-all git (and most of the time, he was), but he was okay. He was Albus' best friend in Ravenclaw and she had learned to see him the way Al did. She really didn't mind him at all, but that didn't stop them from bickering. Al usually lamented his choice in best friends when he was stuck between the two of them quarrelling endlessly.

She ate her bagel in silence after Al had asked them to remain quiet. When the last, delicious piece was gone, she brushed her hands together. Lunch was nearly over and she had Ancient Runes coming up. Rose really loathed Ancient Runes, and the thought alone made her scrunch up her nose in an expression of displeasure. Her mother had tried to teach her so many times that, frankly, she'd lost count. There were hours and hours spent by the kitchen table, her mother heaving great sighs as Rose once again confused the ansuz rune with the laguz. Runes were unbearable.

Rose bounced up from her seat by the table.

"Let's go explore," she said, clapping her hands together.

Scorpius and Al both looked at her in exasperation, both of their sagging shoulders saying 'not this again'.

"We have Ancient Runes," Al protested.

"You say that as if it should change my mind." Rose grinned. "Come on, guys! We haven't gone looking for secret tunnels in ages."

"It ishould/i change your mind," Al said, staring at her intently. "We have class and you know Professor Babbling will notice we're not there."

Rose shook her head, making her frizzy, red hair bounce on her shoulders. "We'll just tell her you guys had to help me because I fell and hurt my ankle. She'll never notice, you know she doesn't bother checking up on people's excuses. She never does."

Without looking back, she walked purposefully down the Great Hall and stopped outside the large double doors. Two seconds later, Al and Scorpius followed behind her, looking defeated. She beamed in self-satisfaction and grabbed both boys by the sleeve of their robes.

"Come on," she urged, leading them up the stairs.

She had always enjoyed exploring the castle. It was gigantic and old, with winding hallways and abandoned rooms. It was a bit like those treasure hunts she had always forced Hugo and her cousins to play with her. While she had seen the map of the castle that James had stolen from Uncle Harry's desk, the map didn't accurately display the castle's secrets anymore. The castle had been largely rebuilt after the Second Wizarding War, and while the layout was roughly the same, old secret passages had been ruined and new ones had taken their place. She had found two of them with Al, but she had heard rumours of at least five and she was sure there were others as well.

On the fifth floor, she pulled them after her down the hallway. Constantly keeping her senses alert, she lead the way past the Prefect bathrooms, her heart beating fast as she snuck down the hall. She loved sneaking around, mostly because she was so particularly skilled at it. There was nothing like the adrenalin of narrowly escaping Mrs. Norris in a dimly lit hallway two hours after curfew.

"I'll murder you in your sleep if we get detention," Al said, barely above a whisper. "I swear on Rowena's diadem."

"Relax," she whispered back. "It's not like it's the first time we've done this."

"That doesn't mean we can't get into trouble!" His voice was clearly exasperated, and she thought she heard Scorpius muttering to himself.

"If it wasn't for me, you'd never experience anything fun," she said to them, rolling her eyes. "You should feel lucky to have me."

"And if it wasn't for us, you would be in trouble every day of your life," Al retorted. "Even when you were two years old, I was covering your bony arse."

"Whose arse are you calling bony, you little twig of a person?"

"Ssh!" Scorpius hissed angrily. "You're going to give us away! Do you realise that my father will flog me alive if he finds out I skipped class in my O.W.L year?"

The hallway came to a crossroad, the lights now scarce and only flickering faintly. Rose lead them to the left and they came face to face with a green tapestry. She immediately began checking behind it, trying to find any signs of a hidden passage. The other two joined her hesitantly, but after some moments of frantic searching it was clear that there couldn't be anything.

"There's a suit of armour over there, maybe he's guarding something," Rose said, her voice almost vibrating with excitement.

Al, as usual, rolled his eyes, but he could never quite keep from smiling when Rose got like this. It was a curse.

"Listen, Scoop," she said, turning to Scorpius as they headed down the hallway towards the tall suit of armour, standing proudly under the flickering lights of a torch. "I really doubt that our parents never got into trouble when they were at Hogwarts. So what does it matter?"

Rose started pulling on the armour, trying to find a secret button or lever, her expression tense in concentration.

"Well, for one thing, our parents probably expect us to do well on our O.W.L.s like they did," Scorpius said. "It's a lot to live up to. And don't call me Scoop!"

She grinned at him. "You know I love calling you Scoop."

His expression darkened and he pressed his lips together, but didn't say anything.

"You of all people should be worried about living up to your parents' expectations," Al said, pulling on the armour's sword. "Your mother got Os on all her O.W.L.s except one."

Rose pulled on the suit of armour's helmet and for a moment they heard a deep rumbling sound from inside. They all paused, holding their breath and waited for something to emerge. Silence reigned and nothing happened, making Rose let go in disappointment.

"Yeah, exactly," she said to Al. "There's no way I can live up to that and I have no intention of trying. I'm not mum and if she wants me to be, then she'll just have to be disappointed."

"There's nothing here," Scorpius said, changing the subject hastily. "Let's move on."

"Let's go up a floor," Rose suggested, leading the way towards a staircase she knew was nearby.

They all walked with more care now. Their discussion had made them forget that they should be careful, but they were back to tiptoeing around corners again. You never knew when you'd be face to face with Filch after all. Rose managed to lead them safely to the stairs and they climbed on, heading up towards the sixth floor. When Rose felt herself losing balance she grabbed the banister and turned to Al, furious.

"Stop pushing me!" she cried. "Are you insane?"

"I'm not pushing you," he said through clenched teeth. "The bloody stairs are moving."

Just as he said it, the staircase came to a halt and they had to hold on for dear life, Rose feeling herself almost losing her balance on the edge of the step. She looked wide-eyed at the other two and they looked as shaken as she felt. It was in no way uncommon that staircases moved around Hogwarts, but she had never seen this one move. And she had no idea where they were.

She climbed the last few steps shakily, standing in the hallway feeling uncertain. Looking left and right, she realised she had no idea where this was or if it was even connected to the rest of the sixth floor.

"Shoot, we have to go back down," she said, ushering the others the other way. "I have no idea where we are."

They all hurried down the stairs, worried that it would lurch into movement again. Rose was half-running down the steps when she smacked into Al's back, having to steady herself by grabbing his robe. She was about to yell at him for stopping so abruptly when she looked up and saw the Headmistress stare at them with an eyebrow arched in question and her lips pursed into a thin line.

"Mister Malfoy, what exactly are you doing out of class?" she inquired.

Scorpius looked back at them with panic in his eyes, his face white as a sheet.

"Uhm, they were helping me," Rose said quickly, making sure she steadied herself on Al's shoulder. "My ankle hurts, I need to go to the hospital wing."

There was silence after Rose's lie and they all held their breaths, it seemed, hoping against all hope that it would work.

"My dear Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, her eyes stern. "You were just running down the stairs as if you had Dementors on your tail."

"I- I..."

"That's quite enough tall tales, Miss Weasley." Their headmistress pushed them all in front of herself one by one. "You may all report for detention tonight at six sharp in the trophy room. And you may tell your housemates that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have both lost 20 points each."

Rose did not miss the glares that would certainly make her combust on the spot if they could. Oh, bugger. She was in for it now.

[-]

"I can't believe you landed yourself in detention," Christine said as they were walking Rose down to the trophy room that evening. "You never get caught."

"I bet it was Scoop's fault," Rose muttered. She took pride in her feline-like quality when it came to sneaking around. She could out-Norris Mrs. Norris, for crying out loud.

"You always say it's Scorpius' fault," Ally pointed out, smiling crookedly.

Rose waved her hand. "Yeah, well, probably because it's true."

They rounded a corner and headed down the Charms corridor. A few people rushed past them, talking loudly, and the corridor was still brightly lit, the light flickering across the stone walls.

"My guess is it was your idea to skip class in the first place," Christine said. "It was Ancient Runes, wasn't it?"

Rose didn't answer, but pursed her lips tightly instead. This made Ally and Christine laugh, knowing they'd guessed right. They didn't push it further, but switched the subject and talked among themselves until they reached the entrance to the trophy room.

"Hey, while you're stuck with them," Christine said, putting her hand on Rose's shoulder. "Be a champ and trick some Quidditch info out of them, yeah?"

"Oh Merlin, as if they don't hate me enough already," Rose exclaimed, pulling the corner of her mouth into a grimace.

"Don't listen to her. It's too close to the match," Ally said. "She's developing her usual tunnel-vision, aren't you, Christine?"

"Huh? I wasn't listening, I was visualising my match-winning goal."

Ally rolled her eyes and pushed Christine back the way they came. Their voices became a distant drone as they disappeared down the hall, and Rose had no choice but to face her detention in the trophy room. She checked her watch quickly and it was already two minutes to six. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

She'd always loved going out past curfew and doing things she shouldn't do, but she had never been a fan of the consequences. Not that she was usually caught, due to aforementioned cat-like qualities, but that was a meagre comfort right now. Scorpius and Al were already there, standing stiffly in front of the headmistress who was looking at her watch.

"Ah, Miss Weasley," she said, looking up and meeting Rose's gaze over the rim of her glasses. "I'm pleased to see that you are all prompt."

Rose tried to smile at Scorpius and Al, but they didn't look in her direction.

"You will have to polish these trophies without magic," the headmistress told them. "And clean the floor. Divide that among you as you wish. A prefect will be here to supervise you."

With that, she left them without another word, leaving the three of them enveloped by an awkward silence.

"You're doing the floor," Al said, turning to the cabinet of trophies.

She supposed that was fair enough. Dropping to her knees, she grabbed the bucket of water and reluctantly began scrubbing. She didn't quite get the point of cleaning this floor anyway; it didn't look like it had been clean in about three hundred years. Looking over at Al and Scorpius, she saw them polishing in silence. They had to stand, but at least they weren't on their knees.

The door to the trophy room opened and she looked up, pushing her hair out of her eyes. Colour drained from her face immediately and she looked down, staring down at her hand scrubbing haphazardly. Of course the prefect supervising them just ihad/i to be Andrew Finnigan. It was just her bloody luck. Glancing up as discreetly as she could, she saw him sitting down behind a desk on the far end of the room, his feet slung up on the surface of the desk. Taking a Transfiguration book out of his bag, he propped it open in his lap.

"Do you have any idea how angry my dad is going to be?" Scorpius said suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen since they began working. "What am I going to tell him?"

Rose looked at him over her shoulder and was about to answer when Andrew looked up from his book.

"No talking," he said, his deep voice almost melting in Rose's ears.

Rose smiled at Scorpius, but he just continued to look miserable. Sometimes she forgot that not every parent was like hers. She didn't think Scorpius' parents were cruel in any sense, but they were definitely stricter than her own and from what she knew, they definitely had higher expectations. Even though her parents obviously had high hopes for her, they'd always let her be her own person and sometimes she took that for granted. She wanted to tell Scorpius that they'd work it out somehow.

They had to keep working in silence and Rose kept looking over at Andrew to distract herself from how much her knees were hurting. She began to realise that he was there alone. Usually he had his friends around him all the time, but now it was just him. When would she ever get a better chance of talking to him? Her palms began sweating. Hadn't she already decided that mooning around in private was kind of pathetic?

When Andrew told them they could go and Scorpius and Al left together without waiting for her, she could feel her heart pounding so hard in her chest that she thought she might crack a rib. Brushing her palms against her robes, she stepped toward him on shaky legs. She was a Gryffindor. She had been selected for her bravery, surely she could do this.

"Hi, er... Andrew," she said, suddenly feeling as if her arms were just dangling uselessly down her sides. "I'm Rose."

"Yeah, I know who you are," he said, packing his Transfiguration book into his bag. "My dad went to school with your parents."

"That's right," she squeaked, coughing awkwardly to clear her voice. "I, uh. I was wondering if... maybe you'd like to... I mean. I know you're probably busy, but I was wondering if you would go to Hogsmeade."

He looked at her under furrowed brows.

"I am going to Hogsmeade, yes."

"Oh, no, I mean. Would you go. With me."

She had never quite felt so uncomfortable in her own skin. Was it possible to itch in your veins?

"Oh," he said, sounding taken aback. "Sure."

"Really?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I mean, does the Three Broomsticks sound okay?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there at noon." He threw the bag over his shoulders. Looking back at her, he gave a slight smile before disappearing out of the room.

Rose stood completely still for a moment before joy seemed to burst into every nerve in her body and she jumped, throwing her arms out as she made a high-pitch squeal. Grinning like a loon, she sprinted out the door, running down the hallways in one giant burst of energy.

[-]

Scrambling for her clothes, Rose jumped from her bed and hopped on one leg as she tried to get into her robes. She'd overslept. Thank Godric it was a Saturday, or she would have been screwed since she had already missed a class that week. She cried out as she banged her toe into the trunk by her bed. This was clearly not her day. The Quidditch match would start in only 15 minutes and breakfast was long gone. Why hadn't Ally and Christine noticed that she never came down for breakfast?

Finally, she had managed to get dressed and she turned to the mirror to brush her teeth quickly. Her mouth dropped open in horror and if the Gryffindor common room hadn't been empty at the time, her housemates would've thought someone was being murdered in the girls' dormitories. She could hardly stop screaming for long enough to find her wand and she tried everything she could think of. Glamour charms didn't work, finite incantatem didn't work. Cursing, she looked at the clock and realised she'd be late. And Christine would murder her if she was late. She dived into Ally's trunk and got out a maroon hat. Pulling it down and tucking all of her hair under it, she ran from the room and continued sprinting down the hallways of the castle.

She was furious, but she didn't give herself time to think about it. Her first priority was making the match in time. The wind stung in her eyes and she hurtled down the road towards the Quidditch pitch. When she reached the stands, she was completely out of breath and she wheezed uncomfortably as she climbed up to the Gryffindor seats. Unable to excuse herself, she pushed herself way until she finally found the empty seat next to Ally.

"Where have you been?" she exclaimed. "Christine's already been looking for you."

"Why didn't you guys wake me up?" she retorted, clutching her side as she tried to get her breath back.

"Al said you wanted to sleep in and that he'd been put on wake up call duty," Ally said, frowning.

"Of course he did," Rose muttered darkly.

The commentator's voice rang out across the stadium, welcoming them to the second match of the term. Rose used the time to calm her racing heart.

"Why are you wearing my hat?" Ally asked when all the players had been called onto the pitch.

Rose managed to catch Christine's gaze and she waved frantically, eager to show that she was there.

"It just felt like a hat kind of day," Rose answered, trying to look as if she wasn't lying through her teeth.

Ally raised her eyebrow into a doubtful expression. "You never have 'hat kind of days'. You hate hats."

"Yeah, well. I'm trying new things. Branching out."

"You're really weird," Ally told her, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Go, Christine!" Rose cried as the whistle blew, choosing to not address the subject of her hat anymore.

It was then she saw Al and Scorpius making their way from the Ravenclaw stands and she bit her lip, wishing they would turn in the other direction instead. They didn't.

"Look who's here, Scorpius!" Al said, not able to stop a large grin from appearing on his face.

The Gryffindors around them looked less than amused to have two Ravenclaws among them at that point, but Scorpius and Al seemed oblivious.

"Hey, guys," she said, giving an exasperated smile. She knew what was coming.

She felt Scorpius reach out and yank her hat from her head and within seconds, many eyes were on her. Ally cried out next to her in surprise, clapping her hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, yeah. Hilarious, lads, you got me," Rose said, throwing her arms out.

It was eerily quiet until Ally's shoulders began shaking and her laughter bubbled involuntarily from her throat. The laughter spread like wild-fire and soon the entire Gryffindor section was in fits of laughter. Of course, Rose knew she looked ridiculous. Her entire hair was a brilliant Ravenclaw blue with bronze highlights, and if there was one thing that had always been visible on Rose, it was her hair. It was big and frizzy and always seemed to bob around her head as she moved.

"That's for landing us in detention," Scorpius said, his voice choked from laughter.

"You look brilliant," Al said, drying tears from his eyes.

Rose couldn't quite help but join in on the laughter, and soon her sides were hurting again. She reached up and grabbed Scorpius' hand.

"Are we even now?" she asked.

"If you keep the hair throughout the match," he said, smirking. "Then yeah, we're even."

Rose scoffed. "Throughout the match? Heck, I'm thinking of keeping this forever."

Just then, Christine soared elegantly past a speeding bludger and hurtled the quaffle past the keeper and through the right goal hoop. The Gryffindor stands jumped to their feet, roaring in delight.

"Yes! Christine!" Rose cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

Moments later Christine came flying up to the stands.

"Did you see that?" she cried, grinning.

"We did!" Ally bellowed back. "Now get your eyes back on the game, girl!"

"Interesting styling choice, Rose!"

Rose ran a hand through her hair and laughed.

[-]

Everything had been back to normal with Scorpius and Al since their revenge, which was a huge relief for Rose. The howler that Scorpius had been expecting never came either. Rose suspected Professor McGonagall hadn't bothered telling his parents something so trivial. She figured the professors wouldn't be doing anything but owling parents if they had to tell them every little thing that happened to their kids.

Despite the relief of being back in Scorpius and Al's good graces, she had felt out of sorts all week. Her date with Andrew was making her entire body antsy, making it difficult to sit still during classes and she had talked about it so much that at one point Scorpius had to stop Al from pouring a vial of salamander blood over her head. Friday may have been her longest day of school in her Hogwarts career. She was so nervous that she had lost all words for how on edge she felt, and she could barely talk to Ally and Christine when they were fussing around her as they got ready to head out to Hogsmeade on Saturday morning.

"You look amazing," Ally reassured her as she ran her hand through Rose's hair. Ally's attempts to tame it had almost worked, but Rose was less than confident that it would last for long.

"You'll knock him dead." Christine helped her put the robe on over her carefully planned outfit. "You'll be like a Chinese Fireball, setting him on fire with your overpowering hotness."

Rose stared at Christine out of the corner of her eyes.

"I'm not sure how to take that."

Christine laughed as she pushed Rose out of their dormitories. Her friends kept talking as they all walked towards Hogsmeade together, but Rose's thoughts were elsewhere. She couldn't believe this was happening. How long had she thought of Andrew Finnigan as some sort of human god that she had no chance of ever even being close to? Her palms were starting to become sweaty and her pulse was uncomfortable at this point.

She couldn't even remember what she said to Christine and Ally as they left her by the Three Broomsticks. Instead, she staggered inside on legs that behaved as if someone had hit her with the Jelly-Legs Jinx. Sitting down at an empty table, she took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She was facing the door, looking up every time it opened, waiting for that moment where he would stand in the doorway and walk towards her. Wow, a proper date with Andrew Finnigan.

Her excitement faded into embarrassment and insecurities more and more every time she looked up and he wasn't there. She hadn't dared looked at her watch, but she knew she would have to at some point. Looking at the others around her, she saw several people in her year. She also saw that people had started noticing that she was sitting there alone, apparently eagerly awaiting someone. Her cheeks reddened as she saw Vera Bones lean in and whisper in her friend's ear, both of their eyes on her.

Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her watch and saw that it was over thirty minutes past noon. She was pretty sure her excitement had now turned into mortification. What should she do? If she got up and left, they would know that whoever she'd been waiting for hadn't showed up. If she stayed, they would see that whoever she was waiting for continued to not show. She bit her lip hard as she battled the tears of embarrassment.

What had she been thinking? Of course Andrew Finnigan didn't want to date her. She'd ambushed him and he hadn't had any other chance but to say yes. Panic was beginning to bubble in her chest. She didn't know how to get out of this situation with her pride still intact. Maybe if she left it would be the easiest. She was about to gather her courage to leave when she looked up and Scorpius was walking towards her.

He smiled at her as he stopped by her table.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, loud enough for the nearby tables to hear.

"Oh, that's okay," she said, her voice shaking.

Their eyes locked and his gaze held a wordless question. She nodded and he sat down across from her. Her heartbeat slowed and she felt like she could finally breathe. She couldn't believe Scorpius had come to her aid just in time. Looking over at Vera from the corner of her eye, she saw that the two girls were no longer staring in her direction.

"Thank you," Rose said in a hushed voice, still feeling the shame burning in her cheeks.

Scorpius shook his head, his sandy blonde hair falling across his forehead.

"I saw him going into Madam Puddifoot's with Dora Davies," Scorpius said. "I realised he'd just left you hanging."

Rose's head drooped and she knew that her disappointment was written all over her face. It hurt to be tossed aside as the next best thing.

"Rose, don't let him get to you." He looked at her intently. "Andrew Finnigan is a tosser."

"He's not...a..." Rose stopped herself. He wasn't really a tosser, and that's what made it worse.

"Well, even if he isn't, what he did was a shite move."

She nodded, swallowing.

"Do you want to leave?" Scorpius asked, studying her.

To her own surprise, she shook her head. "No, let's stay. I'm not going to let Finnigan ruin my Hogsmeade."

Scorpius smiled briefly at her before heading up to the crowded bar. She looked after him as he pushed his way to the front, mouthing something to the person behind the counter. While he was gone, she took the time to feel her shame once again. This was going to hurt for a while, and she knew it, but most of all it was probably her pride. Yeah, she had liked Andrew, but she had never really thought he would go for her anyway. Then he said yes, and all these expectations had built up, but right now she was mostly mortified about being stood up and left hanging.

She crossed her arms on the table and forced herself to put her shame into a tiny, mental box and lock it. After all, it wasn't like anything had changed, had it? She hadn't had Andrew before and she didn't have him now. Scorpius put a glass of steaming hot Butterbeer in front of her and she reached out, taking a large sip. It was warm and creamy and soothing. A swelling feeling of gratitude was lodged in her chest.

"Where's Al?" she asked, smacking her lips contentedly.

"He went with Christine and Ally while I went to pick up some new quills," Scorpius answered. "Do you want me to get him?"

"Oh, it's not like that," she assured him quickly. "I just wondered if he was left alone since you had to come to my rescue. I'm glad he's not."

It was strange. Al, Scorpius and Rose: it had always been the three of them together almost since the day they started Hogwarts. She'd always been the closest to Al, though, and she had never really been alone with Scorpius before. But it wasn't like it should matter, right? They knew each other, she thought he was an okay guy, and he had shown himself to be a decent guy by saving her pride.

Scorpius looked at her over his glass of Butterbeer. He looked nervous, as if he didn't quite know what to do with his limbs.

"Maybe on Monday we can skip Ancient Runes and go exploring again."

She laughed brightly, shaking her head.

"That's awfully nice of you, Scoop, but I think I've made too much trouble for you guys already."

He didn't disagree with that and just smiled crookedly instead.

"Plus, I'd like to keep my hair the way it is for the foreseeable future."

"I think you should go permanently blue."

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

A silence settled between them as they both sipped at their Butterbeer, and she noticed that Scorpius seemed uncomfortable. He was fidgeting a bit, and she wondered if he too was struggling with the weirdness of not having Al there between them as a buffer.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay about Finnigan?" he asked again.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him, almost rolling her eyes in response. "Really."

"He's a tosser, you know. Who would pick Dora Davies over you?"

Once he realised what he'd said, he blushed a bright red and Rose looked at him with wide eyes.

"Probably most people," she said, frankly. "You don't need to cheer me up, though, Scoop. I'm really fine, let's just talk about something else?"

He took the chance to do that and launched into an immediate rant about O.W.L.s. She listened to his run-down of his schedule, grateful to be able to escape into another subject. As much as she appreciated Scorpius saving her pride and attempting to cheer her up, she didn't know if she really wanted to talk about Andrew with him.

"I could help you with Ancient Runes, you know," he said. "I'm pretty good at them."

"I do inot/i need help with runes," she said indignantly.

He gave her a disbelieving look.

"Sure, Rose," he said. "Three weeks ago you thought the runes were saying 'hump the dragon lovingly tonight'."

"Well, dragons need some love," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Even so," Scorpius said, the corner of his mouth curling into a half-smile.

"Even if I did need help, my mother has already tried and she's like the rune master."

Scorpius leaned forward on the table and shrugged his shoulders.

"Somehow I don't think you and your mother can manage to work together for long enough to teach you anything."

He was annoyingly right. Merlin knew she loved her mother to death, but the two of them had wills of steel and had a hard time meeting halfway more often than not.

"Alright, you can try to help me with runes," she said, shrugging. "I don't know if I can repay the favour, though."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, please. You transfigure better than anyone in our year, there's plenty you can teach me."

"That's not even true," she said. "There's a ton of people who are better than me at Transfiguration."

He looked at her intently for what felt like a long time.

"Sometimes you sell yourself really short, Rose," he said. "I'm not just saying you're good at Transfiguration, you really are. Do you think I'd want to admit that anyone's better than me if they're not?"

She looked down at her hands. She'd never really seen herself as being good at any of her classes. Hugo had always been the one who excelled at school. He knew already in his third year that he wanted to be a Healer and she knew he'd be great at it too. She'd always thought her strengths lay elsewhere, but she hadn't exactly known where that elsewhere was.

"I'll teach you Transfiguration if you think it'll help anything," she said, shrugging.

"It will really help," Scorpius answered forcefully. "Honestly."

Rose smiled. She'd never seen herself as specifically skilled at Transfiguration. Well, she'd always known she did fine, but truth be told she was kind of flattered that Scorpius wanted her help.

"Have you had your careers advice talk yet?" Scorpius asked, emptying his Butterbeer.

She shook her head. "No, I think mine's right before the Christmas holidays."

"What do you think they'll say?"

"I always just assumed they'd tell me that my strength lies outside the subjects we have here," she answered truthfully. "What do you think they'll say to you?"

He pursed his lips, looking thoughtful.

"I don't know. I'm nervous about it. What if they tell me I'm not suited to be anything?"

"They won't say that," she said, shaking her head. "Flitwick knows better than that. Plus, I think you can take your pick for what you want to do."

People came and left the Three Broomsticks, chatter always buzzing around them. They ordered two rounds more of Butterbeer, their conversation flowing more naturally by the second. When they both realised it was time to head back to the castle, she felt light and bubbly, which was the exact opposite of what she thought she'd feel like after Andrew had failed to show up.

They walked out together into the slightly chilly autumn air. Rose bumped Scorpius with her shoulder and he staggered sideways, making her laugh. She attempted to hide her smile behind her hand, but it didn't quite work.

"Sorry, Scoop," she said, but her grin said the exact opposite.

He attempted to scowl, but he broke into a laugh as well.

"I guess I shouldn't call you Scoop," she said as they walked down the streets towards the gates of Hogsmeade. "I know you don't like that."

Their steps fell into a rhythm as they walked down the cobbled street.

"I don't actually mind it," he admitted, smiling sheepishly. "You're the only one who calls me Scoop, I kind of like that."

Rose beamed at that, although she had secretly always enjoyed how much it bothered him. And yes, she realised she could be quite immature sometimes.

They suddenly heard steps running behind them and they both turned to find Al, Christine and Ally coming to a halt.

"We've looked all over for you, Scorpius!" Ally exclaimed. "We thought you were just buying quills."

"I'm sorry, I..." He looked at Rose, clearly unsure of what to say.

"He was keeping me company," Rose interjected. "Since... Andrew stood me up."

"Oh, he didn't!" Ally said, her face falling.

"He went to Madam Puddifoot's with Dora Davies."

"That boy is dragon food," Christine said, balling her fists. "Excuse me."

Al grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in place.

"It's fine, Christine," Rose assured her. "Let's not resort to murder."

And that night, Rose realised she really was fine. She had expected to cry herself to sleep, but instead she couldn't quite stop grinning.

[-]

"Wow, I haven't been here in so long," Rose said, looking around. "I kind of forgot what it looks like."

Al looked up at her and pursed his lips.

"It's the library," he said flatly.

"Good observation, Al," she retorted, opening her Ancient Runes text book.

He looked like he was about to answer, but then he just sighed and put his focus back on his Potions essay. Rose shared an amused look with Scorpius across the table before she looked around at the impossibly tall aisles of books. Even if she had grossly exaggerated to rile Al up, she probably could stand to spend more time in here.

"So, show me your ways with runes, Scoop," she said, sitting straighter in her chair.

"What you need is a system for remembering them," he said, pushing a piece of parchment across the table.

She peered at the parchment and found it covered in runes and their translations in some sort of formation.

"You say that as if it's easy," she muttered, squinting down at the parchment.

"No," he said, "it's definitely not. You need to read it, test yourself, and then read it again."

"I don't even know where to start." She leaned her head against her hand, peering sulkily down at the parchment.

He leaned closer across the table and held one finger on the parchment.

"Start by copying it down, but do it by hand, not by magic," he suggested. "That way you'll have to read and process them all as you write it down."

Rose didn't honestly know if all of this would work, considering her way with runes had always been poor at best. But she didn't really have anything else to try and she would rather not get a Troll on her Ancient Runes O.W.L., so she worked diligently as Al and Scorpius silently kept to their own work. She only stopped writing when Scorpius got out of his chair, taking his parchment with him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, holding her quill in midair.

"I just need a book for this Transfiguration essay." He began heading down towards the aisles of books.

"I'll come with you!"

Rose ignored the odd look Al gave her and hurried after Scorpius towards the Transfiguration section.

"What do you need?" she asked him, as they stood looking up at the shelves looming above them.

"Well, I need something on vanishing spells," he said, biting his lip. "The other book I found was useless."

"I know just the one," she assured him, and began climbing the ladder with the grace of a small feline.

Scorpius grabbed a hold of the ladder, looking up at her with large eyes. "Are you nuts?"

Looking down at him, she just grinned. "Relax."

She reached the shelf where she knew the book was held and held out her wand, muttering the spell under her breath. Carefully lowering the book down to Scorpius, she took the time to look around from her perspective, grinning as she looked down at the ground far below.

"I don't think Madam Pince wants us to use the ladders alone," Scorpius said as he grabbed a hold of the book.

"Probably not," Rose said as she began her descent. "But since when did we listen to Madam Pince?"

When there were three steps left on the ladder she jumped and landed securely on her feet, throwing her arms out and grinning.

"You're insane," Scorpius told her, giving her a pointed look.

She just shrugged at this. He was hardly the first one who had told her that. She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. Neither of them moved, even though they had no business left in the Transfiguration section. Rose had never noticed what strong facial features he had. His face was narrow, his jawline strong and his features were symmetrical. He was, really, quite cute in a strange way.

"Thank you, Scoop," she said in a hushed voice. "You saved my day this weekend, I hope you know that."

"It was nothing," he said, holding her gaze.

"It was more than nothing."

Cupping his face in her hands, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his in a kiss, finding them soft and warm under her own. He threw the book to the floor and wrapped his arms around her waist, responding to her kiss with a gentle pressure. Bubbles of excitement seemed to burst in her chest and she smiled against his lips. Finnigan who?

They stared at each other for a moment when they parted before Scorpius hurriedly picked the book up from the floor. She couldn't stop grinning as they walked back to Albus, pointedly ignoring each other's eyes as they sat down.

"Was that book hidden in a cave somewhere?" Albus asked, looking up from his parchment. "You've been gone for ages."

Scorpius' cheeks had a pink tinge, and she felt kind of flustered herself, really. She couldn't quite keep from grinning either. Albus looked back and forth between them and then threw his quill down on the table.

"Oh no," he said, drawing a hand over his face.

[-]

"Can you pass me a piece of toast?" Rose asked, looking over at Scorpius sitting across from her at the breakfast table.

He handed her a piece and their fingers touched as she reached for it. Their touch lingered for a bit and they smiled at each other before looking away, cheeks pink.

"What's going on here?" Christine muttered to Ally behind her glass of pumpkin juice.

Albus turned to the 4th year girl sitting next to him.

"Can you Avada Kedavra me?" he asked, looking pained. "I'll even lend you my wand."


End file.
